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Australia to Get Software Patents and Anti-Circumvention Laws
Marlor writes "Australia's main opposition party have just confirmed that they will be supporting the Free Trade Agreement with the USA. This means that Australia will be adopting DMCA-style laws and Software Patents in the name of 'harmonizing IP laws with the USA', despite consistent lobbying against them. Matters are made worse by the fact that, unlike Americans, Australians are not protected by 'fair use' provisions." Odd that 'harmonizing' is always in one direction - for some reason, no one ever wants to decrease IP regulation to harmonize with some other country.
The FTA has not passed the Australian senate, and
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most likely will not be ratified until after this
year's Australian federal elections.
The hold-up is being caused by the major opposition
party in Australia not agreeing to terms set forward
by Americans regarding the fedral acquisition and
subsidies of pharmaceuticals.
Hopefully this sticking point will render the FTA
void and hence stop any further destruction of the
Australian patent and intellectual property laws
Arash Partow
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Be one who knows what they don't know,
Instead of being one who knows not what they don't know,
Thinking they know everything about all things.
http://www.partow.net
Arash Partow's Philosophy: Be a person who knows what they don't know, and not a person who doesn't know.